500 word study on internet journalism

Using internet sources can be a time-consuming, ineffective procedure that can often not only be time-consuming but potentially inaccurate. However, by following the guidelines of Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR) the internet can be a vital journalistic tool.

Many people remain on the electoral register’s public database, and many websites, including 192.com, take advantage of this. They provide access to information about particular individuals that would be otherwise unavailable. This service is very accurate and useful, unless the person has their name withdrawn from the public database under the Representation of the People Act 2000. This is becoming more and more common, and as a result such websites are becoming more and more obsolete.

Advanced google searching allows for more accurate searches when looking for particular sources. For example, public opinions voiced on facebook can be studied by typing in a key word followed by ‘site:facebook.com/topic’, whilst academic experts can be found through searching with ‘site: ac.uk’. Furthermore, the usage of ‘site: gov.uk’ would only search governmental sites. These searches will save time, and can be a vital way to quickly gain information that could otherwise take a long time to find. The disadvantages of using these methods include the small possibility that websites could be hacked into and altered. This happened to the website www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk in June 2008.

When using sites like Wikipedia, it is important to note that whilst a large proportion of the stories are correct, and there are large teams of moderators working to ensure that people do not post incorrect information, it can still be incorrectly listed online at the time that a journalist looks up a story. This makes the site too unreliable for a journalist to use as a source, although it can still be useful to get a basic overview of something if no other source is available.

The internet can be used to access contemporary newspaper stories online, alongside large archives hosted at websites such as www.lexisnexis.com, which can save time finding a hard-to-access story from an old paper.

User Generated Content can be a potential journalistic pitfall. Whilst it can be a useful way to gather public opinion via blogs, podcasts, and comments, it can also lead a gullible journalist astray with unsubstantiated claims and extremist viewpoints. These claims could be made by innocent members of the public who do not attempt to deceive, but the journalist would be at fault if they printed them.

There are also those who attempt to deliberately deceive journalists, such as the photoshopping of photos that were published on the Sky News website by members of a football forum, which included inserting pictures of Madeline McCann into a picture of a storm.

This means that a journalist must be diligent and suspicious of internet based sources, whilst at the same time aware that they can be both useful and time-saving, something that is vital in modern journalism.

Using The Internet Blog

When using the internet to research stories, it is recommended that the journalist is aware of search shortcuts in google such as ‘:site’. These allow for more detailed searching, with the phrase ‘*topic*:site gov.uk’ searching only governmental sites, and the searching of discussions on social network sites such as facebook by googling ‘*topic* site:facebook.com/topic’. A journalist can find experts on certain subjects by googling, for example, ‘Fossil Fuels :site ac.uk’ which will prioritise sites that are from academic based sites in the UK.

This process of using computers in journalism is known as Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR). The internet can also be used as a form of directory inquiries. Sites like 123people.com and 192.com can be used to search through social networking sites in order to get photos and find out personal information about an individual, even telephone numbers and addresses. There are limitations to this, as a person can remove themselves from being registered on electoral register listings, but it is a useful way to get information.

Archived newspaper articles can also be accessed, through lexisnexis.com and the likes of Bloglines.com allow a journalist to be constantly updated with the latest news through a single website.

300 Word Source Study: 'Music fans back legal downloads' (Click for story link)

The first source to check would be the survey itself, carried out by Entertainment Media Research (EMR). It is important to know who they surveyed, and how many were surveyed. It would appear that the surveys were completed via website survey popups, and 1,500 opinions were taken into account to form the basis of the survey. The survey has been carried out for the last five years, and that has is being reported by the BBC alongside the Guardian in previous years suggests that it is a reliable source.

However, deeper research suggests that EMR was commissioned by Olswang, a legal firm, to conduct the latest survey. This makes the claim that the amount of legal downloaders now exceeds the number of pirates potentially risky for publication. Therefore the second source I would investigate would be Olswang, to discover if they had any links to the music recording industry. If they did, it could possibly comprimise the findings of the survey, as they may make personal gain as a result of its findings.

The third source I would investigate would be the pirates themselves. I would ask the owner of a leading bit-torrent website to comment on the findings of the survey, using the opinions of the sites userbase as a guide to whether the people the survey says would be deterred would actually stop pirating if threatened.

The fourth source would be a a member of the record industry involved in digital music, in order to gather a balanced opinion, and to get their opinions about piracy. The final source would be an industry observer, possibly an editor of a technology magazine, for a expert opinion about a possible resolution to the debate, and for contextual understanding. This would hopefully lead to a clear and objective story going to print.

Sources

When sourcing a story it is important for a journalist to be cynical and wary about what their source says. A journalist must question the motives of the source – they could be attempting to mislead the press in order for personal gain, such as a promotion as a result of an alleged 'company scandal'. The 'scandal' easily be proved to be false, and the journalist and his/her employer would be legally responsible for printing defamation.

A journalist must also be wary of trusting User Generated Content, such as podcasting. They could be legitimate sources, but could quite as easily be the ravings of a madman with an axe to grind. The journalist should be careful of attempts to mislead them through hoaxes or attempts from members of the public to get five minutes of fame through their recently discovered Alien Skull.

It is important to be polite and hospitable to a source who could help break a potentially massive story. The “sexing up” of the Iraq story by Andrew Gilligan also tells us that journalists must keep anonymous sources out of the crossfire and that without sources there is often no story – it is important to look after them.

What Is News?

Journalists are often considered by members of the public to be intrusive, immoral and insincere in their quest for the latest story. Despite this, the public lap up revelations of government scandals and celebrity makeovers. Without the journalist, people would be ill-informed of current affairs, and open to political manoeuvring.

This makes the journalist a vital ingredient in a modern democratic society, and as a result they must be certain with their factual evidence in order not to mislead the public. The news reported should be current and relevant to their target audience, and should present information that was previously unavailable.

The successful journalist should be of an investigative, resourceful nature, always on the look out for a potential story. The more knowledge that a journalist can get regarding a story, the more informative they are to their audience.

This makes it vital for a journalist to interview a person with context and background, and to present their results in a clear and concise manner, without a personal agenda towards the story.

With these thoughts in mind, I am determined to become a journalist working towards finding the truth and presenting it to the public in a thoughtful and knowledgeable manner.